Learning Management Systems

software and system approaches to learning

We Can Offer much More Than University These Days

Out there in the real world of suburbs, communities of people, each striving to improve their lives, to gain a competitive edge in today’s complex, demanding society the more traditional education path is proving to be much less helpful than it once was.

The demand for increasingly specialized skills, and abilities is increasing. AI, and automation has changed the world of work forever, and many jobs which once served to provide a reasonable living for millions of ordinary people have disappeared, leaving a significant number of people adrift, and dependent on welfare.

Homelessness, drug and alcohol problems and personal conflict seem to be also increasing, the suicide rate matches the same rate of death from car accidents. It can all seem pretty grim, the solution of mainstream education becoming less able to offer people a way forward.

But, amidst all of this doom and gloom, along with the media depictions of technology as being to blame for this, the same technology which is being slated actually offers us some new solutions, it provides the means for people of vastly different backgrounds and skill sets to assist one another in very meaningful, powerful ways!

I am, of course referring to the online learning revolution. I am not claiming that this will solve all of our problems, but I see people being helped and their lives transformed every day by creative, accessible learning opportunities enabled by the internet.

I get a bit tired of seeing all the negative talk, and bad press that social media, and the internet is receiving from people who actually should know better.

I think much of this bad talk, and head shaking comes from quarters who are being displaced, and replaced with these new opportunities. There is always a political dimension, and resistance to change, it comes with the territory.

We just have to take note of where much of this negative spin about the internet is coming from, to see very clearly that mass media, education, and political circles are all experiencing challenging times as a result of the more egalitarian development of media, access to information, of course they are going to dislike this!

So, learning management systems. What are they, and how can they help you to publish your learning project?

We know that the web has moved on a long way from the early HTML days. Today we have sophisticated build tools, and development platforms which enable us to present extremely useful services, and experiences for people.

Digital education usually involves the production of courses, which in turn require the use of different media types.

Video, this is a widely used teaching tool, and we can present demonstrations, talking head, and graphical presentations to get our information and messages across. Additionally, audio podcasts allow us to serialize sequences of episodic learning. The written word, of course, is still used extensively, people read and take in your words.

The software I focus on using allows me to build very powerful course structures, and present it all in an attractive, mobile device friendly format. I will be providing some demonstrations of actually putting together some different types of learning projects, using LMS and web media build tools. Look for example sites, and videos demonstrating this in the near the future.

There are agencies, and development groups who offer dedicated and specialized solutions for educators, these often charge enormous fees, and very often are not flexible enough to cater for the vast range of subject specialists, this is where I differ from these agencies.

My own experience with adult education includes initial tertiary education, followed by many years of practical experience teaching and working on a practical level with information technology, and the web.

Learning Management Systems cover a lot of different territory, and we can apply them to a wide range of situations, and demands.